Selling a Texas House With Delinquent Property Taxes

Short answer: yes, and you usually do not pay them up front

Delinquent property taxes do not prevent a sale. In Texas they attach to the property as a lien, which means the debt travels with the real estate rather than with you personally. Because no title company will insure a sale over an unreleased tax lien, the taxes get paid at closing out of the sale proceeds.

In practice that means the taxes reduce what you walk away with. They do not require you to find cash before you can sell — which is the misunderstanding that keeps owners sitting on a property while penalties grow.

Why the number keeps changing

Texas delinquent property taxes accrue penalties and interest on a monthly schedule, and accounts turned over to a delinquent tax attorney can also carry substantial collection fees. A figure you were quoted in March is not the figure you owe in September.

For that reason, get a written payoff statement from the county tax assessor-collector — or whichever office collects for your taxing units — good through a specific date. That is the document a title company works from.

Why title review matters more than usual here

Unpaid taxes rarely travel alone. A title search on a tax-delinquent property often surfaces other recorded items: an old mechanic's lien, a judgment, an unreleased deed of trust from a loan paid off years ago, or an heirship gap from a prior owner's death.

Every one of those has to be resolved or paid before a policy can issue. This is why an honest buyer will not promise a closing date before the title commitment comes back, and why a serious sale starts with ordering title early.

Determine the current payoff yourself

• Contact the county tax assessor-collector's office for your county and request a payoff good through a stated date
• Ask specifically whether the account has been referred to a delinquent tax attorney, and what fees that added
• Check whether more than one taxing unit collects separately — some school and municipal districts do
• Ask whether any exemption you qualify for was missed, since a corrected exemption can reduce the balance
• If you are 65 or older or disabled and used a tax deferral, get the accrued deferral balance in writing

What we need to evaluate a tax-delinquent property

• Address and county
• The current written tax payoff, or permission to obtain it
• Whether there is also a mortgage, and the servicer's payoff
• Whether a tax suit has been filed or a tax sale scheduled
• Condition and occupancy of the property

When to bring in a professional

If a tax suit has been filed, if a tax sale date is set, or if you are considering a tax deferral or a payment agreement with the taxing unit, talk to a Texas attorney or a tax professional. Those decisions have consequences that differ by county and by taxing unit, and general information is not a substitute for advice on your account.